Unless you live in a cave and do not use technology there are very little chances that you have not heard about Cloud Computing. You might not know exactly what it is and how it functions but you must have heard of it and even used it in some or the other way.
Don’t think so? You have used Gmail? That is cloud computing. Dropbox? There it is. It’s basically utilized by most of modern storage applications and whether you are aware of it or not your data is stored in the cloud which allows you to access it from any location.
What is Cloud computing?
Cloud computing in essence is utilization of pooled resources for providing resources to users as required. Its another feature is the ability to access the data remotely. There are many more uses and benefits of the cloud computing platform. Some of the main areas include:
1. Data storage and backup
Today your data is your biggest asset. If you lose your data then your business would be hampered. On various occasions you would have experienced this and felt if only you had a backup of your data. With cloud backup services you can take regular backup of your data and access the data from anywhere. So next time you forget an important document you can easily get another copy of it.
2. Hosted Email
For every business and individual email is a necessity. You cannot do without your emails. If you all you email are on your internal company servers then you are limited to accessing it in your office and when something goes wrong with the servers you are stuck without your emails and cannot work further.
But with a cloud server you need not worry about anything. You can access your emails anytime and from anywhere on your laptop, tablet or your Smartphone as well. This is another reason many businesses have their emails hosted with external cloud service providers or use services like Google’s mail service.
3. Hosted Application and SaaS
Before I answer why you should have hosted applications and Software as a Service, think about you working on your desktop and suddenly it crashes. You need to work on your assignment urgently and you are left with nothing. Getting your PC repaired is going to take time and even after that you cannot be assured if your data would be safe.
However, with cloud being there you can rest assured that you would not need to face anything like this. There are various services like the Virtual desktop which is a cloud based desktop that you can simply login to and start using like your own PC anywhere.
Then there is SaaS which is basically the software you have on your PC now made available in your browser. You can do your work like you do on your desktop using the software. But unlike the traditional software where you cannot use it anywhere else and do not have your saved data either with SaaS you can use your software from any location whether home or office and access all your data.
There are various other benefits of SaaS such as usage based pricing so you do not have to pay for license fees and there is no need to update the software on a regular basis since as with SaaS, it gets done automatically.
Another issue which is quite common is losing your laptop or tablet which has all your data. When this happens you are left helpless and risk losing all your important data. But if all your data is in the Cloud then you can easily access your data and continue your work. Though, you still have to buy a new laptop.
To conclude we can say that Cloud Computing is a very useful platform and has various benefits for businesses as well as individuals. The ease of accessing your data anywhere to having a safe place for storing your files and never losing it is something that each one of us desperately needs. Though there is a price for all this and you get certain things for free, the benefit in terms of safety of your data and the associated perks is what makes Cloud a very good prospect for your IT budget.
About the author
Eric’s field of interest includes dabbling with Social Media and technology especially Web Hosting & Cloud Computing. He looks after content and Social Media for eUKhost Ltd. You can get in touch with him on Twitter & Google+.
